HEAT

Analog warmth and color

Add some HEAT to your mix. Get the warmth and sonic character of analog “in the box” with HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Technology), an easy-to-use Pro Tools | HD software add-on that gives you the euphonic characteristics of prized analog gear without the expense or added bulk.

Features

Old school sound, modern technology

Set it and forget it

The magic of outboard—“in the box”

Wake up your post-production sound

HEAT does more than just warm-up your sound—it actually fuses the color characteristics of vintage analog consoles, vacuum tube circuits, and analog tape into your mix using high-quality, sophisticated algorithms. In the analog world, euphonic characteristics are introduced across individual audio tracks when mixing on an analog console or tracking to analog tape. HEAT works similarly, processing all audio tracks individually. But it also gives you the power to tweak its Drive and Tone controls globally to get the sound you want, whether that means something richer, brighter, smoother, or livelier. You can also A/B individual tracks or the entire mix to compare your handiwork, choose a pre or post insert state, or bypass HEAT altogether.

While HEAT uses the AAX DSP, AAX Native, and TDM architectures to work its magic, it’s no plug-in, making it faster and easier to access and use. That’s because HEAT appears right in the Pro Tools Mix window—no need to insert it on every individual track or select it from a menu. Use it on your entire mix, with global Drive and Tone control, for total effortlessness—just “set it and forget it!”—or bypass it on a track-by-track basis to only affect certain sounds.

Whether you’re mixing music albums or music beds, you can finally step away from costly analog gear and get the sound you’re after “in the box” with HEAT. Easily create great-sounding mixes that have the familiar sonic characteristics of being mixed through a vintage console or box—including the pleasant harmonic distortion that “glues” your mixes together—without having to endure the usual technical complexities—or expense.

If you’re a sound designer or sound effects editor, adding a little HEAT to your tracks can make any sterile-sounding recording or canned effect sound punchier and livelier. Experiment and you can even change-up the character of audio assets into something better or more unique.

AUDIO SAMPLES

This song*, “Ninja” by Nimble Tailors, features interchanging mixes done completely “in the box” with Pro Tools | HD and with two different settings in HEAT. Download the video (right click to save file) and take a listen through your best headphones or speakers to hear how HEAT shapes the mix.

* The song source files were recorded in Pro Tools | HD at 96 kHz, 24-bit resolution, and features all acoustic instruments, vocals, and one virtual instrument—Xpand!. We mixed the song in Pro Tools | HD using an ICON D-Command ES console, bussed to internal stem tracks, and then to a final stereo track with the McDSP ML4000 ML1 mastering limiter. We then dithered it down to 16-bit resolution and converted the sample rate to 48 kHz for the video.